did gas skyrocket anywhere else tonight?

Jan 6, 2012 6:07 AM

I got gas the s Morning at $2.98/gallon. Tonight I went to fill my wife's van up and the lowest price in town was $3.69. That is a big increase in less than 12 hours. Did gas go up this much anywhere else?

Top Answers

While no expert I'm pretty sure it might have something to do with Iran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, which is currently a waterway in which 1/3 of the world's shipped crude oil passes daily. I found a brief article at

I am more t han a little tired of gasoline prices shooting through the roof because of the THREAT that there MIGHT be a POSSIBLE issue SOMEWHERE in the world that Oil comes from. I mean seriously, if all these oil companies want me to believe they're "in it for the good of humanity, and expanding their energy resources to cleaner safer cheaper alternatives" then why do they bend us over and ---- us every chance they get?

as an old wise man once said "Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining."

@pinchecat: I realize gasoline is a finite resource, what I don't understand is why the THREAT of the POSSIBILITY that SOMETHING SOMEWHERE might SOMEHOW go bad, causing the oil companies to spike prices in fuel... Then, they turn around and post record profits quarter after quarter... (as in profits from this quarter broke the previous record of the last quarter, which broke the record of the previous quarter etc.)

As for the fact Gasoline is "relatively cheap in the US as compared to the rest of the world" so? I don't live in the rest of the world, I live in the US, where we don't have a mass transit system worth a ----, or any other alternative to clocking 45,000 to 70,000 miles a year in driving time. When I bought my first truck in 1998, gasoline prices dropped to 68 cents a gallon in AZ, because the oil companies were trying to prove to the state that they could manufacture gasoline cheaper if they didn't have to move to reformulated fuel blends.

While no expert I'm pretty sure it might have something to do with Iran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, which is currently a waterway in which 1/3 of the world's shipped crude oil passes daily. I found a brief article at

I am more t han a little tired of gasoline prices shooting through the roof because of the THREAT that there MIGHT be a POSSIBLE issue SOMEWHERE in the world that Oil comes from. I mean seriously, if all these oil companies want me to believe they're "in it for the good of humanity, and expanding their energy resources to cleaner safer cheaper alternatives" then why do they bend us over and ---- us every chance they get?

as an old wise man once said "Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining."

Of course gas went up tonight! As long as there are concerns about the oil-rich countries, the prices will go up, and the news will report on it, so that we race out during the weekend (when we're out and about already) and buy it at its most expensive all week. Then it'll drop a bit when the weekend is over (unless we're in a REAL crisis, whatever that means!). It's a poopy cycle that we're hostages to.

@pinchecat: I realize gasoline is a finite resource, what I don't understand is why the THREAT of the POSSIBILITY that SOMETHING SOMEWHERE might SOMEHOW go bad, causing the oil companies to spike prices in fuel... Then, they turn around and post record profits quarter after quarter... (as in profits from this quarter broke the previous record of the last quarter, which broke the record of the previous quarter etc.)

As for the fact Gasoline is "relatively cheap in the US as compared to the rest of the world" so? I don't live in the rest of the world, I live in the US, where we don't have a mass transit system worth a ----, or any other alternative to clocking 45,000 to 70,000 miles a year in driving time. When I bought my first truck in 1998, gasoline prices dropped to 68 cents a gallon in AZ, because the oil companies were trying to prove to the state that they could manufacture gasoline cheaper if they didn't have to move to reformulated fuel blends.

Less than $3 gas until today? I'm jealous. It has been $3.59 here for the last 3 days (jumped from $3.29). I can't tell you if it spiked or not today though because I have been sitting in the hospital all day/night.

@waltertangofoxtrot: so, if oil companies raise prices, are you asking them to shave profit margins simply to deliver cheaper gas to joe consumer? you're neglecting to consider the fact that record profits are achieved because:

1) upstream prices go up do to speculation, trading, exports, etc.;
2) higher prices at the pump (downstream) due to larger cost;
3) static margin on higher prices here leads to higher profit...even if they're disproportionately priced higher do you expect them to accept a shrinking margin simply to look out for customers' bottom line...especially in a mostly inelastic demand scenario?

@pinchecat: It's not about shaving profit margins to benefit the customers.

1) Are the oil companies involved in insider trading to make the market fluctuate to jack up prices? That is not only unethical, it's illegal.
2)The prices for the crude itself hasn't changed.
3) Record profits ensue because the margin isn't static, it's because prices have risen while costs have stayed static.

BTW, Shell here was $4.23. I predict that when it gets to $3.89 (up from $3.69, last week) all the sheeple will acclaim that at least it's not $4 anymore.

Gas under $3/ gallon? What's that like? Both my vehicles require Premium, so I don't even look at how much gas costs, I just close my eyes and take it. I barely remember when I paid less than $3.00 / gal for Premium, but that didn't last too long. Right now I'd be thankful for Premium coming in at sub $3.50 / gal. I think it was actually $3.45 a week or two ago. Go figure.

Iran is making a statement about how they can control oil transport from the Middle East - since we have no choice, we end up paying more...

I'd expect the news media to serve this up as an election policy issue - we won't have solar cars (and where does electricity for rechargable cars come from ?). Meanwhile OPEC laughs at us, all the way to the bank !

It's been $3.69 here in Seattle for a while. Can't wait to see what it jumped to. Fortunately we have a decent bus system here and my company provides free bus cards, so I only have to fill up every month or so.

Gas has gone up nearly 15 cents a gallon in my area since Monday. I noticed it after I saw a crawler that mentioned an Iranian production reduction threat boosting the per-barrel price on the commodities market.

Nevermind that the oil in processing right now to be gasoline is already paid for, as it were, and that there's no practical reason for the price of gas already in station tanks to go up so much.

First of all we do"t need to rely on foreign oil at all. We have enough oil available in this country if politics wasn't involved. The oil reserves in this country right now would supply us for the next hundred years. Do you know that most of the oil pumped in Alaska is sold to Japan. We have tapped into one of the largest oil fields right now in N.D. and we have a huge field in Texas. I read it is larger than all the oil in the Middle East put together.

As far as cutting back on usage, depending on where you live that is almost impossible . We have one of the worst mass transit systems in the world. If you live anywhere other than a major city you have no choice but to use your car. In Europe you can travel from Russia to Italy by train and in comfort.

@waltertangofoxtrot: When something like this is coming, people with lots of money want to buy up all the oil they can so they can sell it for a huge profit when the price rises after the shortage. There's so many people doing this, that the mere mention of a possibility causes real actual sales to happen, driving demand and prices up.

For example - if I had a lot of money, I would buy up as many hard drives as I could as soon as I heard about flooding in Thailand. I would have made a lot of money selling them on eBay.

Its unfortunately that oil is treated essentially like a stock, where a simple scare can drive people to push the price up, but other commodities are the same way. If you hear your favorite (insert consumable item here) is going to be out of stock or in short supply soon don't you stock up? Same thing essentially happens with oil. Up goes the price, and they gladly pass it on to the consumer. Now why the gas already at the pump goes up in price immediately? That I can't explain. When oil goes down in price the system works a lot slower. Amazing that, eh?

My wife read in the newspaper a few days ago that the number one export in the US is fuel oil. We send ours to someone else and then buy from terrorist countries. How brilliant is that!? (confirmed it with the Wall Street Journal)

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